Tell Me a Story

A Playwriting CompetitionProduced by No Refund Theatre of the Pennsylvania State University

Top 3 Plays Will Win Prize Money

To be considered for the final event–scheduled to take place on April 23, 2017 (respectively)–plays must be submitted by April 16, 2017.

Tell Me a Story is a No Refund Theatre initiative that seeks to improve student life by uniting the creative elements of the community and inspiring young writers. It is a short play writing contest to which any Penn State student or team of students at any Penn State campus may submit a ten-fifteen minute vignette. On April 23, the eight finalists will be showcased in a dramatic reading during which the winner will be selected by a panel of reputable judges and awarded a $500 along with valuable publicity.

Questions or concerns? Send us a message or email NRTPRChair@gmail.com.

General Guidelines:

❖ Plays must be 10 to 15 minutes in length (after a two minute grace period, the play begins losing points, shows will not make it to the final round if they are under 10 minutes in length).

❖ Play must be original (no adaptations, satires and spoofs are acceptable).

❖ Writers are encouraged to submit their own actors, but in the absence of actors, NRT will provide actors to the best of our ability.

Formatting:

❖ Must be submitted electronically as a PDF to norefundpsu@gmail.com.

❖ One writer must be listed as the primary writer so that if they win, we may present the award to that individual.

❖ It must be clear which character is speaking which lines.

❖ Stage directions must be italicized and in parenthesis on submitted scripts.

Eligibility:

❖ All writers must be current Penn State Students.

❖ There is no limit to the number of people who may be listed as writers on one particular play. However, an individual may only be listed as a writer on one submission.

❖ No submissions through a proxy are permitted.

❖ No judge or member of the TMAS Contest Committee may be listed as a writer on any submitted play.

How will it work?

Preliminaries:

❖ Each submission will be reviewed by the TMAS contest committee.

❖ After careful deliberation, eight finalists will be chosen based on the judgement and a set of criteria from the TMAS committee.

The Final Event:

❖ The order of shows will randomly determined by the TMAS committee.

❖ Between each show there will be a two-minute break. After the fourth show there will be a ten-minute intermission.

❖ After the last show, the judges will retire to another room to tally points and decide on a winner. They will write the 3 top shows in an envelope.

❖ The Emcee will announce the winner and confer the awards.

ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SENT IN A PDF FILE WITH YOUR NAME, ALONG WITH A CONTACT PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL TO nertmail.psu@gmail.comBY April 16, 2017